1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a molding machine, e.g., an injection molding machine. In particular, it relates to a molding machine having a hand operated control which is used for manually operating to move a plurality of movable members provided in the molding machine.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a molding machine, such as an injection molding machine, has various kinds of movable members and driving members for driving the movable members. In such a molding machine, each movable member is automatically or manually operated by a driving member corresponding to each movable member.
These movable members, for example, in an injection molding machine 1 as shown in FIG. 1, are a movable platen 3 having a movable mold 2, an ejector pin 4 for taking a molded product out of a cavity of the mold, an injection unit 6 having an injection cylinder 5 thereon, and a screw (not shown) provided in the injection cylinder 5. Each of these movable members is operated by the corresponding driving member which is placed in juxtaposition with each movable member.
As the driving members for driving the movable members, a clamping cylinder 7, an ejector cylinder 8, and a hydraulic cylinder (not shown) are provided for driving the movable platen 3, the ejector pin 4, and the injection unit 6, respectively. An injection cylinder 5 for injection and for reciprocating the screw, and a hydraulic motor 9 for rotating the screw are provided for driving the screw.
Each movable member is automatically or manually operated by each driving member. The former, i.e., automatic operation, is carried out on the basis of a preset program. The latter, i.e., manual operation, is carried out by operating opening and closing switches 11 to 15 which are provided on an operating panel 10 of the injection molding machine 1, correspondingly to the movable members, respectively, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
In such a conventional injection molding machine 1, since a number of opening and closing switches 11 to 15 have to be provided on the operating panel 10 for hand-operating the movable members, a large-sized operating panel 10 is required. As a result, there is a problem of restriction of degree of freedom of layout for various kinds of devices to be arranged on the injection molding machine 1, for example, a thermometer, a speedometer, a display panel and the like.